This was a well-written, entertaining historical romance. Clever, charming and fun, it held my interest and I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

In a new historical romance series by seasoned author Virginia Heath, we meet Minerva, the eldest of the Merriwell sisters in this fun rom com that is perfect for a fall afternoon. Cassanova Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, has created an imaginary fiancée to stave off his overbearing match-making mother, but when she comes into town two weeks early from overseas, he must scramble to find someone to play the part. Enter poverty-stricken artist Minerva Merriwell who gets offered a handsome sum to go along with the rouse. Will Hugh and Minerva be able to keep the smoke and mirrors show alive, or will their lies get tangled up in true love? Fans of Bridgerton will adore this hilariously witty and steamy read.

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's publishing for an digital reader copy in exchange for an honest review.*

I sure do love a fake dating trope and boy, did this deliver. It gave me major Bridgerton vibes and the writing was really enjoyable. I also found the side characters very endearing and actually served a purpose, rather than just being there for the sake of having more characters. Such a cute read

A regency era duke romance book in the form of a rom-com?! Absolutely. I absolutely love any type of regency era romance novel and this book was no exception. It was a lot light-hearted compared to other regency novels, but while there wasn't a whole lot built into the plot I couldn't put it down. It also had the fake marriage trope which makes this book even better and more unique because I have never read a regency book with that specific trope. All of the characters were easy to form a connection to and enjoy whenever they appeared. I never dreaded when a character came into the plot, although Minerva's younger sister, Vee, got slightly annoying near some parts (but that was her character) which definitely contributed to the fact that I couldn't stop reading. Overall this book was a super fun romance read and I would highly recommend it to pretty much anyone who remotely likes rom-coms, romance, or dukes. Not to mention the potential I saw the author planting for the next book in the series that revolves around Minerva's sister. The only thing that makes a romance book better is a series in which each book focuses on a different set of characters from the original book.

Honestly super great and fun and I enjoyed it! As we head into the fall this was a great read to end my summer. I adored the romance and the historical setting this was perfect. 5 out of 5 stars!

I should be reading books that are being released in September and October, but I started Never Fall for Your Fiancée and I couldn’t put it down. I read it in about 24 hours because it was just that good. I’d recommend it for fans of Tessa Dare’s The Duchess Deal and Bridgerton.

A fake engagement is just the beginning of the antics that occur after Hugh runs into a woman seeking payment for her art and he rescues her. He’s been making up a fake fiancée named Minerva to this mother for 2 years and cannot believe his luck that this woman is named Miranda. She’s hesitant at first, but can’t resist the sum he offers her to play his fake fiancée.

Everything that can go wrong for Hugh’s plan does go wrong, It was hilarious to see some of the situations he got himself and Minerva into. Of course we know they’ll fall for each, but I loved the slow burn will they/won’t they.

I just adored this and cannot recommend it enough!

I will update with the link when I share to my bookstagram page.

This was filled with farce that had me giggling my way through it.
All the characters are well developed and I do love a fake relationship in a story.
Reminded me of a comedic version of Bridgerton.
Much love to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for my DRC.

This was an absolute delight! A funny, swoony, hijinks-filled tale for a Sunday afternoon. Light and enjoyable and totally unbelievable, but that’s ok since rom-coms are essentially fairy tales, right? Never Fall For Your Fiancée is so sweet, it hits the spot.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, and was coincidentally a Goodreads giveaway winner. All opinions are my own.

This is a new to me author also. I thought the author did a wonderful job with this rom com book. I will be looking for more by her in the future.
Another reason I wanted to try this book was I had seen somewhere on Netgalley in a reviewers group where people were requesting and reading this book and how they enjoyed it so I thought I'd try it too. I was pleasantly pleased with it! I love rom com and I couldn't wait to see what this book had to offer!
What a pleasant surprise! I must've laughed until I cried with this book!
The characters are so funny! Just goes to show you that you shouldn't be deceptive just because u dont want to do something someone else wants you to. But really, that's what made it so hilarious!
My thanks for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. I was NOT required to write a positive review.

My Rating: 4/5⭐️’s

Release Date: November 9th 2021

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me this eARC to review! When I was browsing on Net Galley and found an eARC of this book, I had to request it. And it was surprisingly accepted!! This was actually the first ARC I’ve ever received so I literally squealed when I saw the email saying my request was accepted!

In this book, Virginia Heath takes the ‘fake dating’ trope into the regency era (i think its regency dont @ me). Fake dating has to be one of my favorite tropes in romance novels, I find myself picking them up all the time! I also love historical romance because it has some of the smuttiest romance books on the market. I’ve read close to 50 historical romances but it was mainly skimming. I’m slowly but surely making it through my collection of them on my kindle😂

While I liked the book overall, the miscommunication between the hero and heroine got a bit frustrating! That’s why I took it down from a 5 to a 4. I liked both of the main characters, and thought that their relationship was sweet. I really need to root for the main relationship in order for me to like a romance novel. I also liked the pacing of the book. It didn’t feel too long or too short and the story didn’t drag. The hero’s mom was my favorite character and her relationship with her second husband was so amazing!

I think that this book was great overall and was definitely worth the read! I recommend this book to lovers of historical romance and books that have smut but not tons of smut I mean it was smutty but not like 10 times during the book smutty (iykyk). Or even folks who are just getting into smutty books!

After reading a string of thrillers I picked up Never Fall for Your Fiancee by Virginia Heath and it was exactly what my Regency loving reader heart needed. The novel opens with Hugh Standish, a handsome and charming earl, happening upon the beautiful and talented artist Minerva Merriwell in a time of need and as luck would have it she is perfectly poised to help him in his greatest time of need as well. Hugh has kept up the ruse of being engaged for two years to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but when she writes to tell him she's sailing from America to England to meet his fiancee, Hugh is faced with quite the dilemma. Naturally, he chooses to enlist the help of Minerva and hatches a plan to fool his mother into thinking that Minerva is the fiancee she's heard so much about in his letters.

What ensues is an enchanting and delightful calamity of comedic proportions and I loved every page of this romantic tale. The entire cast of characters including Hugh's rakish best friend Giles and Minerva's younger sisters Diana and Vee bring all the supporting drama and further complications to Hugh's grand plan. I laughed out loud, I smiled with giddy glee, and I am here to press this into your hands if like me you enjoy a fun Regency romance. Virginia Heath has crafted a lovely world I'm excited to visit once again in the next installment of The Merriwell Sisters books. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Look for this one from your favorite bookseller on November 9, 2021.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy. The following opinions are my own.

Summary:
Hugh Standish, the Earl of Fareham, is the victim of serial matchmaking at the hands of his mother who currently resides overseas. He’s been able to successfully convince her that he’s engaged to a woman named Minerva, but there’s one problem: Minerva isn’t real. When he finds out his mother is on her way to meet this elusive Minerva, panic settles in.

Enter Minerva Merriwell, a struggling woodcut artist and the eldest of three sisters. She meets Hugh by chance and their dire situations seem to have an easy (but messy) fix if they team up as long as she poses as his fake fiancée, and he offers to pay her a hefty sum.

As the stakes grow higher with a stage actress posing as the sisters’ mother, a convoluted (and very made-up) backstory to make Minerva’s eligibility believable, flirty midnight dance lessons, and lurking enemies hellbent on exposing their secrets, Minerva and Hugh’s relationship develops into a foundation stronger than either of them could have predicted.

Thoughts:
This has to be some of the most fun I’ve had reading historical fiction. The humor and wit on every page felt like fresh air and I was invested in Hugh and Minerva from the moment they appeared on the page together. Hugh Standish is probably one of the most comical main characters I’ve read in a while with nearly every line of his exuding big Westley from The Princess Bride energy. Minerva, a true eldest daughter, gives so much of herself to everyone around her (not out of choice, but out of necessity in her case) that finding an unlikely equal in Hugh feels like she’s finally able to let go of control now that she gets to share it with someone else. Their chemistry is to die for, with a great balance of fluff and angst. There were several quotes between Minerva and Hugh that I still think about often but considering they would be spoilers, I shall share them later once the book is officially out in the world.

There’s nothing I love more in a romcom than plans and antics going hilariously wrong, and this book delivers. The imminent threat of their truth being exposed because somebody didn’t remember the right detail about Minerva’s backstory makes every chapter feel closer and closer to a disastrous unraveling with close saves, plot twists, and terrible opera singing galore. I loved living in this book and can’t wait to return.

Because this is the first in a trilogy, I did notice a very light hinting at who the main characters in the next book will be and (without spoilers) I’m very excited to see how that dynamic unfolds in the future.

Never Fall for Your Fiancée had a great premise. Fake relationship tropes can be such fun, but this fell flat.

Hugh was not your typical rake, which was both refreshing and frustrating at the same time. I really liked that he was different, but he didn't think too much of himself and got to be too self-deprecating, even if it was in a flippant way most times. Also, he was a bit too invested in his made-up relationship; he wove quite the convoluted tale....for two years. Frankly, I don't know how he kept it all straight. I'm sure it was meant to be entertaining, but it turned into quite a far-fetched mess.

Minerva could have been a refreshing character as well, but she came off too jaded. I understand she was a "commoner," but she constantly harped on how she used to be optimistic/view people in a better light/have dreams, etc., and I got tired of it. Then she bemoaned all the "genteel" talents she was lacking in.

Her sisters were also a bit over the top. I'm sensing a theme here. Diana was overly cynical and suspicious, and Vee was a melodramatic brat. Anyways....

I liked the banter and conversations between Hugh and Minerva; it was truly enjoyable and even humorous. However, I didn't really feel chemistry between them, so the romance aspect failed.

I did enjoy Hugh's best friend Giles. He was quite entertaining and humorous as well. Hugh's mother and step-father, Jeremiah, were excellent additions to the cast. I especially appreciated Jeremiah; he had great commentary.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***

I received a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review

What a fun romp of an historical romance. Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, invents a fictional fiancee named Minerva in order to appease his matchmaking mama, who resides in the United States. The ruse goes on for a couple of years, with quite the whopper of a tale that Hugh relates to his mother that explains the delay in marriage. What Hugh doesn't account for though, is his mother's decision to come visit him and meet said fiancee, which means that Hugh has to come up with a fake one real fast.

Enter Minerva Merriwell, who Hugh happens to stumble upon. She supports her two younger sisters since their ne'er do well father left them, and their financial straits are dire. She agrees to pose as Hugh's fiancee, and hilarity ensues as well as a satisfying happily ever after. The secondary characters in this book are all well-fleshed out, particularly the fake mother that Hugh hires to pretend to be the widowed mother of the Merriwell sisters, an actress who tends to be overdramatic, who might also have a hidden drinking problem.

This is the first book in a series and I look forward to the future titles!

This was so sweet! Not to mention absolutely hilarious.And I was here for it. The plot, characters, and setting were all enjoyable throughout the whole read.

Does your girl love a good fake romance that turns real trope? You know I do. Do I love a rich titled rake who gets brought low by his own idiocy and the love of a woman he doesn't deserve? Hell yeah. Never Fall for Your Fiancee nails both.

What a refreshing and delightful read! Not my usual genre, but the storyline is adorable and while it was fairly predictable like most romance is, I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I recently read the Bridgerton series and loved those and I def got some similar vibes from this.

I didn’t realize it was part of a series so I’m excited to see what happens next. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, Never Fall for Your Fiancée was a pleasant read. It is a slow burn, miscommunication rich, fake engagement romance. It has one steamy scene, right at the end, fairly easily to skip for those that like to avoid things of that nature. I think the book would have been fine with out it.
Heath gives the characters a bit of a role-swap from many similar books on the market - Hugh is verbose and his communication skills are convoluted and confusing for everyone around him (essentially, a babbling ninny) and Minerva is the practical, polite but plainly spoken partner in the story.
Not the most memorable read, but compelling enough to quickly read and finish it.
Thanks so much for the ARC!

This is my first read by Virginia Heath, and I have to admit that it was mostly because of the cover that I picked it up. I am such a sucker for this new trend of brightly colored cartoon covers, and the plot seemed interesting enough to give it a go.

And honestly, I really enjoyed it! This was a wonderful setup for the three Merriwell sisters, and it has a wonderful mix of comedic and heart-warming moments that I thoroughly enjoyed. Plus, who doesn't love a rogue like Hugh? Your classic fake-rogue who actually does a wonderful with the land and the ton just has no idea? You know the type. Minerva and Hugh had chemistry and banter, and I'm all about that.

I found Venus to be just a tad too much of a youngest daughter caricature, but hopefully as she ages up in the upcoming books, she won't be so... much.

Definitely looking forward to the next installment in the Merriwell Sisters series!

This was an interesting story with a fun premise. I enjoyed the idea of the made-up fiancee and the need to find a "real" one. I felt like there were a lot of repetitive moments, and I would have liked to see that be reduced.